By Scott Shaw
I thought I would take a moment and write just a little bit about the Zen Film, Guns of El Chupacabra 2: The Unseen, as I have not spoken too much about the creation of this film or its follow-up, Guns of El Chupacabra 3: The Lost Interviews, (which I may discuss in a future piece).
I have, of course, written a lot about Guns of El Chupacabra and its course of creation as that was the central feature to the Guns of El Chupacabra trilogy.
I wrote about, “Chup,” as Don and I referred to the film, in the form of magazine articles, (remember those?), and discourses that have made their way into chapters in my books and elsewhere. There have also been magazine interview articles written about Chup and published when magazines were the name of the game. Plus, Don and I appeared on a couple of TV shows in association with the film.
If you’re interested, there’s a fairly extensive article about the creation of Guns of El Chupacabra up on this site, Guns of El Chupacabra: The Story of the Production. Check it out if you feel like deep-diving into this subject. If nothing else, that piece will provide you with a strong basis of understanding about this Zen Film.
Okay, here we go…
As many of you know, over the past few years, I have uploaded a number of my, (and Donald G. Jackson’s), Zen Films to YouTube. From this, a whole new audience has been exposed to these movies and documentaries. From this, I have received a whole new batch of questions. Recently, I have been asked a number of questions about, Guns of El Chupacabra 2: The Unseen. So, I thought I would take a moment to provide you, (those of you who care), with brief answers to some of these inquiries and to correct some of the misnomers circulating about this Zen Film.
As I have discussed in other places, I was away in Thailand when Don grabbed an idea I had previously suggested for a Monster Flick and went up on the film while I was gone. Don being Don, however, most of what he filmed was unusable. As soon as I had returned, Don called me up, as he knew I was the only way to get that film created. Thus, El Chupacabra was born, which evolved into Guns of El Chupacabra.
Soon after we began filming, we realized that we really wanted to make this film into a trilogy. “A holy trinity,” as Don used to like to proclaim. For you, “Knowers,” of the history of Zen Filmmaking out there, you will remember that we also planned to do this with The Roller Blade Seven. Though we never made the final film in that trilogy, The Wheelzone Warrior, (at least not yet). In any case, we always hoped Guns of El Chupacabra to be the first, and hopefully, the best film of this trilogy. Which, I believe it became.
As I have also mentioned in the past, there was a moment when Don and I were standing on top of the Broadway Building one night, on the corner of Hollywood Blvd. and Vine, (where we had a shooting stage), looking out over the city, and he looked at me, shook his head, and said, “We’ve been shooting this movie for over a year…” Yes, the Guns of El Chupacabra trilogy was a long production.
I’ve talked about this also, but during the editing process, we had rented equipment from one of Don’s friends. The only problem was, there was something wrong in that system and I had to edit every scene in reverse; from end to beginning. So, even the edit of Guns of El Chupacabra took some time.
Guns of El Chupacabra, and its sequels, were shot on 16mm and 35mm film. Equaling, this production was not cheap. We had a fairly high budget, but we did all of the filming as we always did, Zen Filmmaking style.
In association with our 16mm and 35mm cameras, we also used the just-released Sony VX1000 Mini DV prosumer camcorder for some of our TV reporter footage. Thus, I believe, there was an interesting combining of photographic mediums used to make up this trilogy.
After we finished Guns of El Chupacabra, Don pretty much checked out on the project. He was getting very sick from leukemia, and he was not always ON. This, though we did continue to make other features. From this, it was me who moved the project(s), Guns of El Chupacabra 2: The Unseen, and later Guns of El Chupacabra 3: The Lost Interviews forward.
Some, “Reviewers,” have stated, (I know as some people have asked me about the truth in their comments), that Guns of El Chupacabra 2: The Unseen is made up of unused footage taken from the first film. This is not the case. As we were filming, we always knew that we wanted to make a trilogy, so we filmed a lot of footage guided towards that end. So yes, some of the footage used in this film represents establishing story development that was depicted in the original film. And yes, some of the footage takes a deeper look into some of the secondary characters presented in the first film. But, this was what we always intended to do. In fact, the subtitle of this film, “The Unseen,” expresses exactly that.
To take a more specific look into the footage used in this film, the ideal example of this comes in one of the early scenes of this flick where the characters played by Julie Strain and her then husband Kevin Eastman wake up with, “Queen B,” having a nightmare and proclaiming, “Send for the Space Sheriff.”
When we filmed those scenes, we were on a shooting stage over by the L.A. River. We shot those scenes on thirty-five-millimeter film. That footage is what you see in the original feature. As a backup, and as a means to eventually do a documentary about the creation of this film, (which we never did), we also had our videographer shoot those scenes on our Sony VX1000. When I got down to the editing of the second feature, where incidentally, I had much better editing equipment, I decided that the foundations of the story of the original Chup film needed to be retold as it was such an essential establishing factor. Thus, I decided to use the footage shot by the Sony VX1000, not the 35mm footage seen in the first film. So yes, it is the same scene. But, it is also very different.
One of the things I would do when I was teaching courses on filmmaking around that period of time, at U.C.L.A. and Santa Monica College, was to show my students the scenes from the two films and let them explain the difference. Some students were very astute, they got it right away. Others, like many/most, do not notice the difference in the filming medium. But, here’s a secret… If you listen closely to that scene in Guns of El Chupacabra 2: The Unseen, you can hear the 35mm camera running in the background.
I believe this is one of the deep truths of independent filmmaking and particularly Zen Filmmaking, there is an inner essence that must be looked for. It must be sought out. It must be studied. Though this is something that most viewers never do, if you do not quest for this, you are really missing the essence of the sublet nature of the true filmmaking process.
Also, in Guns of El Chupacabra 2: The Unseen, I decided to use footage from an interview that Don and I did. This is something that some reviewers, I am told, have criticized. Again, they are missing the point of our creative process. I did this because what I wanted to create was the question in the mind of the audience, “Are these people filmmakers or are they actually characters in the film?” Just as in the first film, it vacillates between reporters following the trail of the chupacabra, the people who are hunting it, and the world of my character, Jack B. Quick. At times, these timelines intersect. At others, they are completely different. From my perspective as the filmmaker, this interview footage combined with the story development and editing technique(s) I used pulled back one more layer and set the mind of the audience into questioning what is actually going on? In fact, in the final scene of the film, my character is questioned, “Are you a filmmaker or are you an alien superhero?” My character pulls out a gun, points it at camera, the screen fades to black, and, “Bang.” End of movie. Leaving the ultimate question unanswered.
Another comment I am told, that some people are apparently discussing, is the fact that this film is less than one hour in length. Let me dive into the reasoning behind this... For those of you who have never been formally involved in film creation or film distribution you probably don’t know this but, during the early (modern) years of independent film creation, a film needed to be at least eight-two minutes in length to find a market. This is one of the reasons in many independent features you will see long front-end and/or rear screen credits. This was done because the filmmakers needed to extend the length of their film to get it closer to that idealized ninety-minute(ish) requirement. As times progressed, and the cable TV market grew, there emerged buyers who were specifically looking for movies just under sixty-minutes. With this, they could broadcast an entire feature, with any commercialing or host introduction, and place it in a one-hour time slot. Don Jackson and I, who both owned film distribution companies, had several requests for a Chupacabra film that would fit this time requirement. Thus, this is why Guns of El Chupacabra 2: The Unseen was created around this time length. Nothing sloppy, amateurish, or sinister there… Instead, it was a conscience choice.
So, for all of you, “Reviewers,” and/or self-proclaimed, “Film Critics,” out there throwing shade, who believe you knew what we were doing, and claiming this film is made up of unused footage or it is too short, you are wrong. Like I have said forever, “What is a film critic? With very few exceptions it is someone who doesn’t possess the talent or the dedication to actually go out and make a film.” And, if I can take this thought process just a bit further by asking the question, “Why is this?” The answer, “If they did, they would be out there making films and not wasting their time critiquing the cinematic art of others.”
…They can say or write whatever it is they think about my films and myself, be it right or wrong, true or false, doesn't that mean I can voice my opinion about them? :-)
Okay… There it is… That’s a quick overview of Guns of El Chupacabra 2: The Unseen with a little philosophy on the side. Basically, like in all the films I’ve created, and certainly with the ones I did in association with Donald G. Jackson, there is a subtle hidden meaning behind all of the story development, the scene construction, and the editing choices. You can love them; you can hate them. You can understand them; you cannot. But, always be aware that everything in Zen Filmmaking is done/is created with a very intended purpose. And, to all of the viewers out there, you really need to remember to look beyond the obvious in any movie/in any life situation you encounter to truly understand the essence of Zen.
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This article can also be found At Scott Shaw.com at Guns of El Chupacabra 2: The Unseen.
